Fluorescent secreted bacterial effectors reveal active intravacuolar proliferation of Listeria monocytogenes in epithelial cells.

ABSTRACT: Real-time imaging of bacterial virulence factor dynamics is hampered by the limited number of fluorescent tools suitable for tagging secreted effectors. Here, we demonstrated that the fluorogenic reporter FAST could be used to tag secreted proteins, and we implemented it to monitor infection dynamics in epithelial cells exposed to the human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes (Lm). By tracking individual FAST-labelled vacuoles after Lm internalisation into cells, we unveiled the heterogeneity of residence time inside entry vacuoles. Although half of the bacterial population escaped within 13 minutes after entry, 12% of bacteria remained entrapped over an hour inside long term vacuoles, and sometimes much longer, regardless of the secretion of the pore-forming toxin listeriolysin O (LLO). We im

SUBMITTER: Peron-Cane C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7580998 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature